The impact of global warming, and subsequent melting of Arctic ice, could potentially lead to a new shipping route between Asia and Europe.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR), which runs along the Russian Arctic Coast, is being utilised this week by a container ship for the first time. Maersk Line will be operating a 3600 TEU vessel carrying fresh fish from Vladivostok to St Petersburg.

Vladivostok is situated in the Sea of Japan, less than a 100 miles from North Korea and in Russia’s East. Therefore, the ports of China, Korea and Japan are within easy reach of services operating via the NSR to and from Europe.

The NSR can improve transit times between Asia and Europe by a week or more, depending on the destination, but is only usable for two to three months per year.  The cost is currently prohibitive too, as nuclear icebreakers are required to accompany vessels at the moment.

In the long run the NSR could prove to be a rival to the traditional Suez Canal routing, although there are no plans to open this up to general cargo yet.

The shipping community will be watching this journey, and developments in the climate, with interest.

Uniserve are currently providing our own sea-freight consolidations and full load services from numerous origin points throughout China, South East Asia, The Indian Sub Continent, The Middle East and North America.

For further information on the above, or to find out more about how Uniserve can add leverage to your supply chain, please call 01375 856060 or email info@ugroup.co.uk.

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